Midnight Duelist
by Zeralul
Summary: Avacyn's return did not rid him of his desire for revenge.


Who am I? I am a man, first and foremost. I am the bane of evil. I am living proof that once a person sets him or herself on a path and becomes fully dedicated, he or she can become the path. I have reached perfection, though the path was treacherous and blood-curdling. I guide others on the path to hunt those who seek blood and the ones who drink it. I am what the people in these lands refer to as a Midnight Duelist.

My brothers-in-arms share similar backgrounds as I do. We were all raised in a land of darkness, surrounded by dangers at every turn. At young ages, we fought with our common human brethren against hordes of werewolves, the endless ranks of the dead, and the cunning vampires of the night. We have lost friends and family to these vile creatures, but we have not lost our humanity. Unfortunately, the vampires feed off of our weakness; as we lose our lives, they get stronger.

In response, we decided that we would not let them weaken us in the first place. Humanity had lost hope, but we, the Midnight Duelists, sought to restore it. The people of Innistrad had heard stories of a time when an archangel named Avacyn protected these lands. She tracked down the werewolves, purged the undead, and smote the vampires with her holy light. Avacyn used to be the beacon of hope for humanity, but then everything changed when she disappeared without explanation. Those creatures soon took advantage of our weakness and began to hunt us down. We lived without knowing if there would be a tomorrow as we huddled in fear in our little, isolated villages.

Not satisfied as simply being prey for the vampires, a select few of us began to train to duel vampires, and more importantly, win against them. We trained with the only weapon that can turn vampires to dust: stakes. Armed with wooden, gold, and silver stakes, we seek to return the vile creatures to dust. Dueling against an experienced vampire armed with a sword and vicious claws, while only having stakes in hand, is extremely challenging. The range of a stake is painfully short, but the satisfaction of driving a stake through the heart of a vampire is incomparable to any other feeling. The feeling of revenge and justice that we get when we see the look of terror in the vampire's eyes fuels our fires of ruthlessness. The vampires show no mercy to us; why should we to them? We wear red capes to symbolize the lives that have been lost to the blood-suckers, and we always keep at least one of our trusty stakes on us at all times.

Now, many believe that the dark times are coming to an end. Avacyn, the Angel of Hope, has been returned to us. She leads the final crusade against the scourge of the night, and we follow under her as loyal soldiers. With our countless years of training, we can see through vampires' deceit and we can hold at bay even the most powerful vampire indefinitely. No vampires shall pass our impenetrable wall of hope.

Since Avacyn was restored, I took it upon myself to train future Midnight Duelists in the art of vampire combat. I am now the hunter, and the vampires are now the prey. My job is to hunt down vampires, Defang them, and capture them.

_Once vampires are disarmed, they're given wooden swords and forced to assist in the training of Midnight Duelists._

Often times, they try to escape, but without their fangs or claws, they are nothing compared to us. Watching a defanged vampire fight is quite a sight to behold. They still retain their biting instinct and immediately lunge for an opponent's neck when they see an opening. Their reflexes are incredible. However, without fangs, the bite is totally ineffective. Even when they learn their lesson, they still lunge anyway. That is what makes these vampires so perfect for training against.

We keep them barely alive with the blood from animals. We promise them extra rations of blood if they can best one of our trainees in a duel in order to keep them at their fighting best. Of course, we only pick students with the most talent and drive, but that does not stop the vampires from dreaming about blood as they are beaten down in the chest with blunt stakes. Their one-minded thirst for blood disgusts me, the animals.

Now that the monsters, even the demons, are retreating, and Avacyn has regained the upper-hand for humanity, many people call for our disbandment. Though we Midnight Duelists have faithfully served humanity by restlessly hunting down the vampires, the people fear our strength and our ruthlessness. But we will not stop. We will not stop until every last vampire is annihilated and the whole race is destroyed. What the vampires did to our loved ones must be returned against them ten-fold. Only when they cease to exist can a Midnight Duelist truly rest.

_Avacyn's return did not rid him of his desire for revenge._


End file.
